Bernie Madoff Scandal

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Bernard Madoff was born in Queens, New York to an honest Jewish family. He graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. In 1960, Madoff opened up Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a penny stock trading company founded with $5000 that Bernie earned by working as a sprinkler installer and lifeguard. He grew his firm with the help of his father-in-law, Saul Alpern, into at one point the largest market maker at the NASDAQ. Madoff Securities started off making markets via the National Quotation Bureau’s Pink Sheets; but in order to gain an advantage on competing firms, began using innovative computer software that projected quotes in seconds rather than minutes. This system is now commonly referred to as the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) (Weiner 188-192). Madoff served as president on the board of directors of the NASDAQ stock exchange until his arrest on December 11th, 2008. On March 12th 2009, Madoff admitted that his business was an elaborate Ponzi scheme and in June, “was convicted of 11 charges totaling over 150 years in prison and $7.2 billion in restitution” (Wasik).
The Bernie Madoff scandal is considered the largest accounting fraud in American history. It is estimated to have lasted nearly two decades, and stolen approximately $64.8 billion. The scandal consisted of Madoff taking money from investors who believed there money was being invested into blue-chip stocks; and later repaying the original investors with money supplied by new investors rather than profit from the original investment. The surplus money was then pocketed by Madoff, which he used to purchase excessive luxuries such as numerous multimillion-dollar homes, luxury car...

... middle of paper ...

...xact numbers as Madoff refuses to talk about the scheme. Madoff’s defense lawyer, Ira Sorkin, recommends that Madoff’s sentence be reduced to 12 years as a result of his cooperation and confession; but Judge Chin said he has not received any mitigating letters from friends or family testifying to Madoff's good deeds.

Works Cited

"Investor Furor over $50B Scam." New York Post. (2008): n. page.
Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Lattman, Peter, and Ben Protess. "In Guilty Plea, Peter Madoff Says He Didn’t Know
About the Fraud." 29 06 2012: n. page. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
Wasik, John. "Inside the Mind of Madoff: When Did Scam Really Begin?" (2012): 1.
Web. .
Weiner, Eric J. "What Goes Up: The Uncensored History of Modern Wall Street as Told by the Bankers, Brokers, CEOs, and Scoundrels who Made it Happen." (2005): 188-192. Web.

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